Gluten Free Vegan Cherry Pie
- 3 cups fresh or frozen cherries
- 1 cup organic coconut sugar
- 3 tbsp corn starch
- 4 medium green apples, cored and roughly chopped
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tsp ground cloves
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- 1 packet of vegan shortcrust pastry (GF if you require)
- 1/4 cup almond milk (or other plant milk)
Takes ,serves six-eight people.
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees C / 350 F. If using frozen pastry, remove from the freezer and allow to defrost while you prepare your vegan cherry pie filling.
- If you are using fresh cherries, de-stem and pit them (use the chopstick method explained above!)
- Add pitted cherries to a pan over medium heat (no need for oil/water) and heat for a few minutes until the juices start to release
- Add the sugar and stir until all of the sugar has dissolved
- Add the corn starch and stir quickly to remove any lumps before they set
- Stir the cherries continuously for a few minutes until the whole mixture thickens and becomes rich and jammy. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Meanwhile add the apples to a pan over med-high heat with the water and spices. Bring to the boil and then reduce the heat
- Cook the apples for around 10 minutes until just soft and all of the water has been evaporated. Remove from heat.
- Roll out around half the pastry and press into the base of a pie tin. Blind bake the pie crust for around 10 minutes or until the edges are just golden (to blind bake line the pastry with a piece of baking paper and some uncooked rice - this holds down the pastry as it cooks and prevents bubbles from occurring)
- While the crust is blind-baking, gently mix the apple and cherry mixtures together
- Remove the crust from the oven and spoon the filling evenly inside.
- Roll out the second half of the pastry and cut into strips around 5cm thick
- Lay the strips of pastry over the pie filing one by one, crossing them over as you go to make a lattice (find out how to make a lattice here)
- Once the pie is covered, use a fork around the edges of the pie to stick the strips to the body of the pie. If you have leftover pastry like I did you can use a few strips to cover these messy edges.
- Brush the pastry with a little home made almond milk to help it brown
- Place the pie back in the oven for around 30 minutes or until golden. Keep a close eye on the pastry and as soon as it is evenly browned it is ready!
